


your sweet speaking

by perrstein



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen, and I'm gonna make a drinking game out of all the times I refer to her as Atlas, and Kara needs her own fucking character back, and then I'm gonna die, lmao Lena needs a good cry and a hug, one day I'm going to get off my ass and write a sweeping epic retelling Supergirl, with Kara as the actual main character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 08:44:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11078061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perrstein/pseuds/perrstein
Summary: Aftermath of s2 finale, because???? Kara should still have her mom's necklace and Lena needs a hug, b y e





	your sweet speaking

**Author's Note:**

> A quick commission for randomthingsthatilike over on tumblr, because we both firmly agree that Lena should actually be able to feel something other than emotional shock.
> 
> Let my gay disaster daughter cry l o l, it's wildly overdue.

_“I saw the world from the stars point of view. And it was unbearably lonely.”_

 

 _We Are the Ants_ by Shaun David Hutchinson

 

* * *

 

The world was deafening while she carried on the best she could.

 

Even with her glasses on to muffle the worst of it, Kara knew quiet was a concept that she could only experience first-hand with her powers blown out. And yet after so many years in that pod, she was never sure if silence was something she actually wanted to experience ever again. Space is silent, but then again, the death of her home was overwhelmingly loud--and then unsettlingly silent. The screams of a dying world as the ground shook her off-course and her own screams rattling around her pod before it all cut off will be forever imprinted in her mind. After her experiences silence was something that was only good in theory, Kara mused while floating cross-legged high above the city in the pre-dawn light. Sometimes she longed for a more stable middle ground between that and all of the sensory input she constantly takes in.

 

"Kara? Are you okay?" Alex's voice softly flickered over the comm, sliding Kara's attention back into focus. The unspoken questions were heavy between them, weighted so that even Kara struggled with them.

 

Tilting her head back to look to the different constellations visible to her even through National City’s smog-filled skyline, she regulated her breathing just as Jeremiah had shown her all those years ago. " _Just find that one thing_ ," he had said while holding her hands between his, " _the one thing in the world to use as what grounds you when everything becomes too much_." The world was deafening, it was overwhelming and constantly demanded that she carry it on her shoulders.

 

Yet that was the choice she made each and every time she got out of bed, and she would not shirk a promise made to the people that took her in after she had lost everything. A moment of peace stretched out, before one anxiously fluttering heartbeat rose above the rest.

 

"Yeah." Kara's voice was rough with disuse from her night-long goodbye vigil, but for the first time since she released lead into the atmosphere and killed Rhea, her eyes were clear and sharp. "Can we talk later tonight about this? Just the two of us? There's somewhere I need to be right now."

 

A crackle of static and a sigh of such tangible relief that Kara could imagine Alex's expression came through before Alex answered her. "Of course. Pizza, potstickers, and ice cream at your place sounds like a treat after the past few weeks. See you tonight." The comm line cut after that, returning Kara to the sounds of the air and city, and that was what she needed to be spurred to action.

 

The flight to L-Corp was one she made instinctively, mental calculations and muscle memory blending together as she touched down on Lena's office balcony. Lena was asleep at her desk, paperwork and blueprints sprawled under her loose ebony hair. Kara stepped forward, concern constricting her heart as she hears the skittish jumps in Lena's heartbeat and breathing. Kara's hands itched to do something, to comfort her friend, and she knelt by Lena's desk, lightly smoothing her hair back from her face.

 

"It's okay, Lena, you're safe," Kara's voice was a hoarse whisper as she weighed her next words. "I promised you that I wasn't going anywhere and here I am."

 

With a jolt, Lena was awake and panicked. Wild eyes darted around the room as she took in the sight of Supergirl kneeling at her side, recognition reigning it in under a tight lock and key until she stiffy leaned back in her chair.

 

"Supergirl, what a surprise." Tension coiled through those flat words as she held herself still. "What can I do for you?"

 

Kara bit back a grimace as she retracted her hand from Lena, and pressed it to where her mother's necklace laid flat under her suit. Anxiety was written clear as day across Lena's expression and posture, and she knew it was foolish to come here without changing. She would have to play this carefully to avoid giving too much away, but she needed to make sure her point got across.

 

"I wanted to check on you. Yesterday was hard for us all, and...." Kara reached as if for her glasses, covering it just barely by touching her hair and looking more exhausted than Lena's ever seen her, "I wanted to thank you."

 

"What you did was amazing, Lena, and I need you to know that what happened wasn't your fault." Kara bit her lip as she leaned back slightly, deliberately staying on her knees to look as non-threatening as possible. "And I wanted to make sure you're going to be okay. Kara's worried about you, and so am I."

 

Mouth opening as if Lena was going to say something, a fragment of a sob was all that slipped past her lips. She covered her mouth to choke it down, distress building as she shot out of her chair. Every part of Kara's heart broke all over again as she watched her best friend be hit by everything she’s been repressing the past few months.

 

Lena’s shoulders twitched under the force of her emotions, and Kara was done watching her friend suffer. The world was too heavy to carry on her own, but for the next little while, she could carry Lena's world until she was ready to handle it again. She stood carefully, and like an anchor in a rough sea, she pulled Lena into a hug while she weathered out the worst of it. Kara tracked time by the wild beat of Lena's heart and the dampness that gathered along at the collar of her suit.

 

Shivers wracked Lena's body until she cried out the worst of it, and as much as Kara wanted to guide them to the couch, she refused to move Lena without her permission. She wasn't going to disturb the first time Lena could probably vent her emotions, and that it happened while she was Supergirl meant that Lena was placing this trust in both halves of who she is. Kara gently stroked Lena's hair as Lena's hands grasped desperately at her cape, and she was glad Lena was barefoot if only so she could make her friend feel as comfortable and safe as she could while still in her suit.

 

As her whimpers quieted to ragged breathing, Lena pulled away from Kara and reached for tissues stored away in her desk. She broke eye contact to wipe at her face, flushed a soft pink from crying and embarrassment.

 

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that, I should be more put together than this," Lena's voice was dry as she tried to compartmentalize her feelings away, and Kara frowned and stepped forward again.

 

She reached forward and lightly guided Lena's chin up so they were looking at each other, careful to make the touch something that Lena could reject easily. "You were abducted and almost forced into a marriage by an alien queen, who had spent weeks manipulating you into caring for her. The fact that you're as put together as you are now is baffling to me."

 

A glint in Lena's eyes was the only warning Kara had that Lena was about to start crying again, and Kara pulled her in close for another hug. "You're more than enough as you are, emotions and all." Lena’s arms slowly wrapped around her and oh, Kara thought her heart had already broken as many times as it could, but this made it fissure apart once more.

 

"When the world seems too heavy Lena, we can talk and watch the world go by. You're not alone. The symbol on my chest means stronger together, and that's something that we have to choose each day to be the truth we live." Tremors ran through Lena at Kara’s words, and Kara knew she had answered her own question from her discussion with Cat earlier.

 

Lena stepped away again, hands fidgeting with a stray tissue. "You really mean that," traces of wonder slipped into her voice as she looked at Kara as if she was finally getting closer to solving some kind of puzzle that had eluded her for weeks. Glancing away briefly to look at the rising sun, she looked back at Kara with hope in her eyes once more.

 

"I need some time to myself to process things, but...I'd like that." Lena sat on the edge of her desk and looked back at the sky with a small smile. "I'd like that a lot.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a Sappho quote because I'm gay, that's why. happy pride, amiright?
> 
> hmu over at barddog.tumblr.com if you wanna chitchat at some point!


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